1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a carcass configurer, and more particularly to a hog carcass configurer to enable an American-style hog to be used with a European-style leaf lard puller.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In commercial meat packing operations, animals, such as hogs, are slaughtered, bled, skinned, eviscerated and the carcass is then cut into halves before it is chilled. The carcasses are suspended from an overhead rail and are moved by a conveyor on the rail. Prior to being cut in halves, they are cut open along the abdominal face and along the rib cage, thus providing an access of extracting the viscera and the offals. After this operation, the hogs are brought to a leaf lard puller where the leaf lards are removed. One model of a leaf lard puller is the Stork FLR leaf lard puller produced by Stork MPS B.V. from Holland.
However, the Stork leaf lard puller and any other leaf lard puller that is manufactured for use in Europe is made for use with "European" style hogs. That is, when the European-style hogs are cut open along the abdominal face, they are prepared such that the hogs typically have a width of approximately 16 inches. Operating standards in the United States are different and the hogs have a width of approximately 22 inches. Therefore, when a European-style leaf lard puller is attempted to be used with an American-style hog, the leaf lard puller does not work. The American-style hogs are too far apart and the leaf lard puller is not able to be properly used when the hog carcass is separated too far apart.
The leaf lard pullers are positioned adjacent the overhead conveyor and move along with the hogs as the hogs are transported on the overhead conveyors. The leaf lard pullers operate "on the fly". Therefore, there is a need to be able to adapt the American-style hogs for use with a European-style leaf lard puller.